The Back Fortyhttp://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty
Food for thoughtSat, 10 Mar 2018 13:25:58 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.5Can We Trust Saccone to Protect Our Social Security and Medicare?http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5850
http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5850#respondFri, 09 Mar 2018 20:26:54 +0000http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5850Trust is the cornerstone of the compact voters make with the candidates they support. Voters expect their candidates to keep their word and fight for the issues and programs that they pledge to support.

In the special election for the 18th congressional district in Pennsylvania, Republican Rick Saccone claims he won’t cut our Social Security and Medicare, but tell that to the man he wants to work for in Washington, Paul Ryan. The House Speaker has bragged that Social Security, and Medicare are his next big target.

Like so many career politicians, Saccone promises to protect our benefits, but he clearly wants it both ways, admitting in a recent debate when it comes to Social Security and Medicare, “we have to do some reforms.”

We need leaders who we can trust to increase our Social Security checks and expand our Medicare coverage, not cause us pain by gutting those programs that we earned during our working years. We can’t trust “reforms” to protect our Social Security and Medicare nor can we trust Republicans who think they can fool us into believing otherwise.

]]>http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?feed=rss2&p=58500Rural America Would Benefit from Bipartisan Senate Budget Dealhttp://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5844
http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5844#respondWed, 07 Feb 2018 21:09:55 +0000http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5844Investment in Rural America is a big part of the bipartisan budget deal reached today in the Senate. The compromise would allow the Pentagon and other agencies to do some longer-term planning, for change – a luxury not afforded the federal government since the Trump administration took office.

The only question now is will House Republicans and the White House allow this deal, which includes fully repealing the funding-limiting domestic sequester caps, avoids another government shutdown, and would lift the federal debt ceiling through March 2019, a move urged by Treasury officials, who fear running out of money next month because of the GOP tax cuts.

The budget agreement was announced a day after Trump said, “If we have to shut it down because the Democrats don’t want safety, and unrelated but still related, they don’t want to take care of our military, then shut it down. We’ll go with another shutdown.”

Clearly the Democrats care about safety and the Pentagon with this deal. Both sides agreed $160 billion would go to the Pentagon and it leaves for another day the debate on immigration issues.

Along with the Defense funding, Democratic negotiators pressed for $131 billion in domestic investment, a significant chunk of which will directly benefit Rural Americans. The deal includes:

$90 billion in overdue disaster aid for hurricane-ravaged Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, and areas hit by Western wildfires

$6 billion to fight the opioid and mental health crises that have become an epidemic in Rural States

$4 billion for Veterans Hospitals and clinics

$5.8 billion for the Child Care Development Block Grant program

$4 billion to help make college more affordable, including programs that help police officers, teachers, and firefighters

$2 billion for critical research at the National Institutes of Health amid this deadly flu outbreak

Now the deal is in hands of House Republicans and the White House. Let your lawmakers know they should do the deal and avoid another government shutdown.

]]>http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?feed=rss2&p=58440In the Can’t Make This Stuff Up Department: U.S. Will Need to Borrow Almost $1 Trillion from China and Others This Year to Pay for Tax Cutshttp://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5835
http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5835#respondTue, 06 Feb 2018 00:11:59 +0000http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5835The plan seemed simple enough: first, ram through a redistribution of wealth scheme in favor of corporations and the richest Americans that would add more than $1 trillion to the federal deficit; secondly, come up with the excuse that social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and healthcare have to be cut to pay for the GOP tax cuts.

The sham embraced by GOP Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin (so out-of-touch that he celebrated $1.50 a week pay raise for a school secretary, before trying to hide the fact that he did) was a page right out of the playbook of his patrons, the Koch brothers and others. Sensing a backlash from working- and middle-class voters in Rural States that depend on those programs, however, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said forget that; it’s a bad idea in an election year where Republicans are running for the door rather than facing the wrath of voters in November.

To make matters even worse, Wall Street’s celebration of the tax cuts seems to be over, with investors not showing a lot of faith in the current economic climate at the moment. Trump can now boast of presiding over the worst closing point decline on record for the Dow.

It means we’re still stuck with the bill, but no worries, future generations will pick up the tab, right? Nope, according to the Treasury Department and the Congressional Budget Office, China and other debt investors will have pay the bill this year in order to keep the U.S. from defaulting on its loans.

Thanks to the GOP tax giveaways, the federal government is getting ready to borrow almost $1 trillion in 2018, an increase of 84% from last year. So in the end, yes, the Republicans are kicking a massive debt down the road. Is that how we make America great again? Or is that really just more of the same from a party that can’t seem to help but break the bank every time it occupies the White House?

]]>http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?feed=rss2&p=58350GOP Infrastructure Plan: State & Local Tax Hikes; Toll Roads & Bridgeshttp://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5829
http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5829#respondSun, 04 Feb 2018 00:05:03 +0000http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5829Are you ready for private toll roads and bridges in West Virginia and Maine? How about state and local tax hikes in Mississippi and New Hampshire? Get ready for it, because that is exactly what Rural States from Georgia to Idaho can expect if the Trump infrastructure plan comes to fruition.

Oh, the White House talks a great game, promising that a quarter of its $1.5 trillion “plan” to repair bridges, repave roads, buttress dams, dredge waterways and renovate water pipes will be dedicated to Rural America. What the Trump administration doesn’t spend a lot of time talking about is the fact that its formula only calls for putting up about 20% of the cash to rebuild a crumbling America.

A more traditional infrastructure blueprint would have the federal government putting up 80% of the money and states come up with the remaining 20%. We can thank the GOP tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans for making it virtually impossible for Uncle Sam to do his job and maintain the vital American infrastructure.

As CEO Joel Moser of infrastructure finance and privately equity company Aquamarine Investment Partners, points out in Forbes, state, and local lawmakers would be hard-pressed to raise taxes after the GOP tax scam just all but wiped out the federal deduction for state and local taxes.

“By proposing less federal money, Trump is playing a shell game, pushing the responsibility to raise taxes to governors and mayors, and right after signing a tax bill that eliminates the deductibility of state and local taxes, making it just about impossible to raise taxes. He gets to claim fiscal purity on this issue and pass the blame to others—because the problem will not get fixed,” Moser writes.

It gets worse. Trump’s proposal is based on ”competitive grants” that would greatly favor wealthy East and Coast “Blue States” over Rural “Red States,” meaning Rural Areas would likely be left behind once again by the Trump administration.

“There are a bunch of us that want to work on infrastructure, but it can’t be overly reliant on tolls from blue areas of the country and leave red areas of the country behind,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO).

‎We’re going to be hearing an awful lot about how the GOP tax cut giveaway to their fat cat friends on Wall Street and corporate boardrooms have crippled services and lifestyles for the vast majority of Americans. Just this week the Congressional Budget Office warned that the federal government is once again going to have to raise the debt ceiling because federal revenue already is slowing to trickle thanks to the GOP tax cuts.

Raising the debt ceiling means selling more debt to buyers like China for the federal government to pay its bills. But what it really means is American infrastructure is going to continue to crumble, —and Rural States will take the biggest hit of all.

]]>http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?feed=rss2&p=58290The State of Rural America is Strong But Vulnerablehttp://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5825
http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5825#respondTue, 30 Jan 2018 16:54:15 +0000http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5825The State of Rural America is strong because of the people and local institutions that allow us to sustain our vital agrarian-based communities. The strength of Rural America can be found in our profound and productive ability to feed the world.

The State of Rural America is threatened, however, by the false promises from current leaders who seek to divide us through manipulation and by pitting neighbor against neighbor, for political gain. It’s an outrage.

On issue after issue, Rural Voters are offered only meaningless words, as opposed to actions that ensure our way of life is maintained and protected. There is a better deal for Rural Americans, but in order to achieve it, we must elect officials who we can trust to fight for our jobs and way of life.

The Rural Economy needs trade deals that protect our farming, ranching and fishing industries, and ensures the best prices are paid for American grown and harvested produce, meats, fish and dairy products. The current administration is pursuing a trade policy that will leave Rural Agriculture short-changed while filling the pockets of Wall Street and corporate executives.

Rural Infrastructure needs to be maintained to ensure our goods and services are delivered to market without interruption. The safety and well being of our families and neighbors should not depend on the mood of lawmakers. After delivering on tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans, the current leadership now intends to put forward a plan that forces the Rural States to raise taxes and fees in order to repair and renovate our streets, roads, bridges, dams and buildings.

We require a healthcare strategy that guarantees and expands coverage for working- and middle-class Rural Americans and halts the epidemic of Rural Hospitals closing. Demonizing our health care coverage for partisan political gain hurts us all, particularly Rural Children and Rural Seniors. The current leadership’s intentional destruction of the American health care system must end.

We need a farm bill that levels the playing field for family farms and locally grown and harvested produce, meats, fish and dairy products. The current leadership must not be allowed to favor Factory Farms and Agribusiness over Family Farms.

Governments and business must work together to create incentives and programs that end the Rural Brain Drain. Our young people need to feel confident and secure that they can live in work in the communities they call home. We must encourage our young people to see and feel the world, whether it is through education, the military, individual adventure or some combination. We must ensure, however, that they have a reason to bring back their knowledge and experience to revitalize and grow our Local Communities while guaranteeing that they have a future in Rural America.

The same goes for Rural Women and our at-risk neighbors who can contribute mightily to our Rural Communities. There must be private-public partnerships that provide economic empowerment opportunities in Rural America.

It’s important for our leaders to get their priorities straight. A good place to start is not choosing to attack institutions that Rural Americans depend on to keep America safe, like the FBI and CIA. We choose Team USA always over hostile governments, like the Russians or North Koreans.

We must demand an end to the current administration’s war on state and local rule. The voters and local leaders must be allowed to pass their own laws that fit the will of their people, as long as those laws do not hurt and threaten the people in other communities and areas. Where state and local laws, ordinances, and rules are clear, the current slate of federal officials must not be allowed to come in and impose their will just to satisfy their own out-of-touch, self-serving values, and profit-making schemes.

In order to ensure our voices in Rural America are not muzzled, we must seek the easiest path to voter registration and the simplest ways to cast a ballot. We must reject voter suppression and intimidation, and take on those who would allow outside forces and foreign governments to influence and tamper with American Democracy.

To preserve our way of life, our government must be held to a higher standard. We should not allow ourselves to be tricked into repeatedly getting intentionally diverted away from expecting elected officials keep their word on issues that matter to how we live, eat, breath and enjoy life.

The State of Rural America is Strong, but we should not be neglected or find ourselves under assault by the powers that be in Washington.

]]>http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?feed=rss2&p=58250For Rural Votes, 2017 was a Groundbreaking Year Despite the Oppositionhttp://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5817
http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5817#respondFri, 29 Dec 2017 22:28:10 +0000http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5817It’s been a strange, but energizing year. Everyday our resolve to fight for the rights and lifestyle of Rural America grows stronger. Our motivation is winning the war on hard working- and middle-class Rural Americans — and winning the war on truth and justice.

Taking a look back at 2017, we all have come together to fight this battle of a lifetime for the future of America. Our efforts broke new ground in enlightening Rural Americans to the reality of a systematic bait-and-switch campaign of unkept promises by the ruling party in Washington and many Rural Governments. We should all be proud of the scorecard.

We won the fight to protect the core of our health care coverage, increasing access for everyone and protecting Rural Americans who rely on Medicare and Medicaid. The victory gave more Rural Hospitals a better chance of keeping their doors open. Furthermore, a successful statewide ballot initiative in Rural Maine ushered in a first-ever voter-driven demand to expand affordable, quality health care coverage. The battle to protect healthcare is a model for activating, energizing and empowering activists from the grassroots level to the state capitals to Washington, DC.

We elected key lawmakers who successfully ran campaigns that focused on Rural Values and Priorities in critical races in Alabama and Virginia. In Alabama, we saw a return to the core value that “all politics is local,” allowing a race in that venerable Rural State to be run for its people, not for special interests and their singular causes. The incoming Virginia governor grew up on the Rural Eastern Shore. He talked about reversing the underinvestment in job creation needed to revitalize Rural Virginia — an example of how Rural America is influencing the national conversation from the local level.

Even where victory in elections escaped us, the battles were noble and hard fought. In four special House elections, Democrats outperformed Republicans in races that should have not even been close, yet they were all contested. Much was learned.

Our organization made strides this year in promoting voter registration, and we were steadfast in countering systematic voter suppression and intimidation that plagues Rural America. We worked to keep American elections American. We supported and enhanced get out the vote efforts at every level. Again, much was learned.

Across the country, we flatly rejected the forces of hate and bigotry that would seek to divide Rural Americans for the sake of their own narrow-minded and intolerant agendas. Righteous Rural Americans stood up and were counted among those who embraced inclusion, equality, harmony and good citizenship.

The Republicans trumpet the appointment of conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court as one of its crowning achievements of 2017, but we will never forgot that it was a seat stolen by GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell from a sitting Democratic leader for purely partisan gain. It was a gift to historians who will forever remember McConnell as a dishonest broker because of that partisan stunt.

While the Republican leadership branded itself as a do-nothing tribe willing to look the other way from charges and accusations brought against its members, from top to bottom, Democrats proved to be committed to dealing harshly with ethics violators among their own members.

The promise for government of the people, by the people, for the people made by President Lincoln at Gettysburg reminds us now, as it did then, that our strength is in unity and prosperity for all of America. Our resolve in the fight to save Rural America grows stronger each day.

]]>http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?feed=rss2&p=58170Roy Moore Won’t Do a Darn Thing to Fix Alabama’s Opioid Crisishttp://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5808
http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5808#respondSat, 09 Dec 2017 23:26:17 +0000http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5808For too long the ruling party in Alabama has ignored the opioid crisis that is literally killing Rural Alabamians. Unless there is a political shake up, Alabama will likely remain atop the list of states with the worst opioid problem in the country.

Republicans like Roy Moore are the problem, refusing to see that Big Pharma, and not the misguided and over-hyped drug war blame game excuses, is going unpunished for the opioid epidemic in Alabama. “Opioids are not the only drug problem we have,” the out-of-touch Moore was quoted as saying recently in the Montgomery Advertiser.

Fortunately, at least two Alabama hospitals aren’t waiting for the state’s Republican leadership to step and do the right thing. Mobile-based Infirmary Health Hospitals Inc., and Monroe County Healthcare Authority this week joined a Mississippi-led class-action lawsuit taking aim at Big Pharma for allegedly pushing and profiteering from their highly addictive drugs.

Big Pharma hires 18 lobbyists on average every year to press the Alabama marketplace into buying and arguably over-prescribing their opioids. With high pressure lobbying like that it’s no surprise that Alabama has the most prescription opioid use in the nation.

The individual statistics for Alabama opioid use are shocking, according to recent statistics compiled by the Joint Economic Committee in Congress. For example, in 2015, 736 people died from drug overdoses in Alabama, compared to 122 people in significantly less populous Alaska. Doctors in Alabama prescribe 142.9 opioid pain relievers per 100 persons, compared to the national rate of 82.5 per 100 persons.

In addition, four of the 15 cities in the United States most plagued by the opioid epidemic are in Alabama, according to a separate private study.

The opioid crisis in Alabama and throughout Rural America will only get worse if the Republicans in Washington are allowed to pass Trumpcare, which of course we are seeing is JunkCare at best, and NoCare in the case of the most vulnerable among us. Alabama can’t afford seeing that happen. We need smart votes in Washington. Roy Moore won’t help with that.

Alabama has the Republican leadership to thank for the state losing out on $14.4 billion in federal money that is available by law to provide mostly Rural American residents with health insurance coverage. The number of Alabamians denied affordable healthcare is approaching half a million people.

“We must ensure that quality health care is available not only in our cities, but in rural areas as well. As pointed out recently by U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, ‘Alabama’s rural hospitals have been struggling for years, largely due to inadequate reimbursements, low volume and high operating costs,’” explained Doug Jones, who is working to bring expanded health care to Alabama.

“Since 2010, five rural hospitals have closed in Alabama, leaving residents without local care. As Rep. Sewell notes, ‘We need more robust Medicaid funding in Alabama if our rural hospitals are to survive,’” Jones concluded.

On top of the lost revenue, the Republicans decision to decline the federal aide is costing Alabama an estimated 30,000 new jobs that would be created by the increased healthcare coverage. Alabama deserves a better deal than that.

This is a precise scenario. How so? Because one thing we know for sure is the Republicans in Congress have been trying all year to wipe out Medicaid, and if they win on Medicaid they surely plan to try to double-down and go after Medicare and Social Security.

A Moore-backed GOP plan to shrink Medicare and Social Security would affect one-fifth of Alabama residents. Not only would the quality of life diminish for approximately 4.8 million Alabamian senior citizens, but those cuts would take 10s of millions of dollars out of the Alabama economy.

That’s a lousy deal for Alabama, but it won’t happen if Moore isn’t elected. The Republicans need Moore’s vote to decimate Medicare and Social Security.

]]>http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?feed=rss2&p=57790Alabama Senate GOP Write-in Race is a Replay of the Iron Bowl UPDATEDhttp://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5772
http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5772#respondMon, 04 Dec 2017 20:40:13 +0000http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=5772There is a lot of speculation throughout Alabama about who Republican Senator Richard Shelby wrote in as his vote for senator in next week’s special election.

Casting an absentee ballot late last month, all Shelby would say is he wrote in the name of a “distinguished Republican.” Guesses as to who won Shelby’s vote range from ex-Sen. Jeff Sessions to interim Sen. Luther Strange. Shelby may have even cast a vote for himself, rather than voting for the embattled and increasingly unpopular Roy Moore.

Shelby cast his write-in vote before retired Marine Col. Lee Busby of Tuscaloosa formally announced his write-in campaign. Busby is an interesting Republican voter with deep connections to the Trump White House. He once served as chief of staff to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, himself a retired four-star general.

Shelby isn’t alone. Republicans throughout Alabama have been requesting information from state and local officials on how to cast a write-in ballot in next Tuesday’s election. The onslaught of requests even prompted Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, himself a Republican, to issue a special release with instructions for how to cast a write-in ballot.

While most observers focus on which GOP politicians will pick up the most write-in votes, many Republicans will likely go another route, choosing iconic Alabamians as their candidate. GOP fans of Alabama’s favorite fall pastime are girding for an Iron Bowl fight off the gridiron. Alabama coach Nick Saban, who routinely picks up write-in votes in everything from student government to presidential elections, may turn out to be the choice of most Republicans. There even have been calls for Saban to seek the Senate seat. However, it’s worth pointing out that with Gus Malzahn and his Auburn Tigers handily defeating Alabama in this year’s Iron Bowl, he might just give Saban a run for the money in the Senate write-in sweepstakes.

It should surprise no one if one or both of prominent football coaches top the write-in ticket.

UPDATE: Interestingly, it’s Mac Watson of Auburn who at the moment is generating the most social media attention for his GOP Senate write-in campaign, according to an analysis performed at the request of Rural Votes by a top social media data scientist. The conservative businessman has a common sense agenda. Watson contends that since a low-paid worker is held to high standards, a well-paid U.S. senator should be expected to uphold a moral code as well. Moore fails that smell test, he contends.

A Republican political operative, who has worked at the highest levels of statewide elections in Alabama, said the write-in campaign is likely bigger than people think. “This is an election that the voters might not be comfortable admitting how they plan to vote to pollsters…Alabama is a God-fearing state, so you have to expect some voters want an alternative to Moore,” the political operative said, asking to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.